David Harris: Writing...of sorts

Visitation

Sun, 25 Apr 2004 18:41:00 GMT

There are people who can help you
at times like this. They
lurk in dark alleys, fingernails
lengthening. All you
need do is visit for a moment,
but what a moment!

In a future decade, you will see
familiar cobblestones
disappearing in plasma screen
shadows of barter
and you will remember when
help came to visit.

Dusk

Thu, 22 Apr 2004 23:01:11 GMT

Please.
Take the silence.
Lock it in a box beneath the stairs.
Or sink it to the bottom of a well.
All this silence is leaking
into my ears.
And I've not much left
to fight it.

Little monkeys

Wed, 21 Apr 2004 23:40:01 GMT

Did you know that film sets are infested
with little monkeys, actual ones
with long tails and sometime in strange hats,
with nothing to do all day but hide?

They fill in all the gaps you don't see
on the big screen as you eat your butter
on popcorn, letting two dimensions take
on the semblance of a real world.

The monkeys aren't evil, they just
like to play hide-and-seek
like in the days when you used to imagine you were
like the characters in big thick books.

The little monkeys laugh more each day.

23/5: That evening she danced merengues with us

Sun, 18 Apr 2004 22:52:33 GMT

[Note: The origin of this text is described in the comments to the post on the book meme. Thanks to Dr. Omed for the suggestion.]

That evening she danced merengues with us

We can express the difference
by defining the romantic,
nineteenth-century periodical
as essentially an organ of opinion,
exercising an avant-garde function
only insofar as it leads and precedes
a vast corps of readers
in the labyrinth of ideas and issues;
but the avant-garde periodical
functions as an independent and isolated
military unit,
completely and sharply detached
from the public, quick to act,
not only to explore but also
to battle, conquer, and adventure
on its own.

The stars he pastes up are colored
only to go with how he feels that day,
blue on up to golden.

It is not that the idea is attributed
to man's inordinate conceit
(though this is sometimes done by the unreflecting);
for, all said and done, a navvy who can walk
into a public-house and order a pot of beer
is an infinitely more wonderful thing
than is the biggest lump of cooling mud
that ever swam in the skies.

And tell me whether any literary work whatsoever
is compatible with states of this kind.

Smilers, all who stand on promontories,
slinkers, whisperers, deliberate approaches,
echoes, time, promises of mercy,
what dreams or goes masked, embraces that fail,
insufficient evidence,
touches of the old wound.

But it is quite natual that sensations
so familiar should be little noticed
and that attention should be drawn to them
only under special circumstances when
they occur unexpectedly or with
unusual strength.

None of the pictures is very large,
which doesn't mean they aren't
valuable.

My own experience of Thomas might be limited,
but Kate had written me quite detailed reports
of her acquaintance with him,
and I think I can safely say that
'exaggerating'
is not a word that either of us would ever use
in connection with him.

Tami's bust
probably measured
fifty-five
or
sixty
inches.

She was an explorer and a pioneer
at the high art of terraforming,
and her techniques in building
living worlds were still the standard,
and her name didn't even need
'Chamberlain'
attached to it.

They find cover among small patches of
natural vegetation, agricultural fields,
and tree plantations to the south,
near the seacoast.

Wilde scuffed the surface of the canal-bank path—
it had changed from trodden dust
to a strip of fused sand
which broadened and merged with the street ahead,
the permanent way made from the same material
as if the finger of a god
had drawn the lines from space—
and waited for the machine to reply.

My protestations of friendship
are not like other people's.

"Classy, virile, Teutonic,"
growls the Old Man.

i said, "i love to. but
i thought you knew everything
about me."

There are just as many differences
among followers of the Sacred King
system, except that none of them
had definite names for their
religion
as such.

...

"Classy,
virile,
Teutonic,"
growls
the
Old
Man.

[p.s. While I was doing this, Dr. Omed was doing his own... like him, i'm interested in seeing your version so send me a copy....]

Scenes from cafes #6: Creme

Sat, 17 Apr 2004 22:11:02 GMT

New "barista"
asks
if it looks right
to me.

23/5 book meme

Sat, 17 Apr 2004 06:21:25 GMT

The meme infecting the entire world of blogs is the following:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

I've come across this everywhere and thought I might have a look at some of the transmission patterns. So here are a set of paths working from a particular instance of the meme going back through the quoted sources in a chain. The first sources I'm using are people who I have linked from this blog

Chain#1
tympan
caterina.net
David Chess
long story short pier
elkins
Amy's Journal (April 8th entry)
I'll gather all the stars each night as they appear (April 8th entry - this entry says that she forgot to credit the source as she had seen it in numerous livejournals - she then gives one of her sources as the next link)
pegkerr
Where are the monkeys of yesteryear? (April 7 entry)
Chris' Journal (April 7 entry)
Stonehead News (April 7 entry)
Bilmo's log (April 7 entry)
the sentimental curmudgeon (April 6 entry)
tully monster's fair and balanced fossil record (April 6 entry)
paintbrush sage (April 6 entry)
cyn (April 6)
Keats and Yeats are on your side (refers back to tully monster as the source in the comments! - there's some weird twisting of time going on here...)

Chain#2
Jen Crispin
????

Chain#3
Pharyngula
Unfogged
[Purse Lip Square Jaw]
Caterina.net
rest of entries as in Chain #1

Interesting the way in which the two chains converge. (We would expect them to converge, but I find where they converged interesting.)

Oh yeah, I suppose I better answer myself....

That evening she danced merengues with us.

But I'm not telling where it comes from. Some hints though. I am pretty certain that you will find this same sentence in this place in all editions of the book. This sentence is the complete line on the page.

Any guesses?

[Link forward in time to poetic response to this meme.]

Puzzlers

Sat, 17 Apr 2004 06:00:55 GMT

What do puzzle makers call
angry language (10)?

Scenes from cafes #5: Black & white

Sat, 17 Apr 2004 05:59:25 GMT

Mendoza shoe shiner
stares at me,
too much ash on the
end of his cigarette,
reflected in
a photograph's glass,
the photograph
stares again.

(from Michal Venera's photo "Mendoza shoe shiner" www.eborelli.com)

spaghettification syllogism

Thu, 15 Apr 2004 16:34:30 GMT

black_hole(macroscopic_object)=spaghetti
=> black_hole(spaghetti)=spaghetti

Scenes from cafes #4: Cash flow

Thu, 15 Apr 2004 16:33:25 GMT

All the pockets have holes
and the tip jar is full.

Schrodinger's dream

Thu, 15 Apr 2004 05:49:04 GMT

aitch bar on
too emm
dell squared
            sigh
plus vee
            sigh

    eek walls

miners eye
aitch bar dee
            sigh
dee tee

Scenes from cafes #3: Seasonal

Thu, 15 Apr 2004 05:48:12 GMT

"No you can't have an affogato,
the calendar page hasn't been turned."

Chicken and egg

Wed, 14 Apr 2004 05:36:46 GMT

Sure,
science can squeeze an egg
into a bottle.
But can it put it back
in the
chicken?

Scenes from cafes #2: The Mason

Wed, 14 Apr 2004 05:36:02 GMT

she builds a wall
of books around
her danish and tea,
Faulkner on top.

Scenes from cafes #1: Eclipse over Russia

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 21:54:50 GMT

she read "The Idiot"
between pages of a
java developer's handbook.

Teacher

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 21:48:03 GMT

I refuse to teach you anything
you don't already know.

I might pull on your lapels
or blow cool breezes up your blouse.

I might lie you in warm sun
thalictrum scent calming your heels.

I might stab at the back of your eyes
until you can feel how soft grey is.

But I refuse to teach you anything,
especially anything you already know.

espresso creme

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 03:56:36 GMT

espresso creme -
wrigglers emerge
in a still pond

thunderclouds gather

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 03:56:04 GMT

thunderclouds gather
as the fleet leaves harbour -
Rorschach blots

delicate sushi

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 03:55:28 GMT

delicate sushi
melts in my mouth -
train roars by

juice dribbles

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 03:54:55 GMT

juice dribbles
from a ripe apple -
half a worm

the striker

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 03:54:28 GMT

the striker
scores a goal to cheers -
infant picks a scab

rainbow

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 03:54:02 GMT

rainbow
in a hose spray -
earthworm wriggles

feet in the fountain

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 03:53:39 GMT

feet in the fountain -
children play cops
and robbers

sun glints

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 03:53:14 GMT

sun glints
on the plane's wing -
white handkerchief

margarita

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 03:52:44 GMT

margarita
pitchers fill the table -
mosquito bite